‘Lady Gaga’s refusal to be shamed over gender rumours changed my life as a young trans person’

“Why the hell am I gonna waste my time and give a press release on whether or not I have a penis? My fans don’t care and neither do I.”

If you grew up in the late-2000s/early-2010s, you almost certainly remember – or, at the very least, vaguely recollect – the widespread conspiracy theory that pop star Lady Gaga was assigned male at birth.

Growing up at a time when trans representation amounted to a one-time gag in crude films such as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective or shock-horror tabloid dumpster articles about blokes discovering their dates had a wang, this clown-circus of a harassment campaign against the then newcomer to pop was, retrospectively, nothing short of disgusting.

Hindsight is a hell of a thing. Looking back, the media should be

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